Happy 4th!

I am doing swell!

I did get to meet President Hewlett and I'll talk about that more later. I am doing great this week was good, and the best week this area has had in a long long time. 

This week was great! Monday we bowled and did the usual. We played chair soccer as well. Nothing really exciting happened other than that though.

Tuesday was amazing! Since it was July 4th we were able to do whatever really. Pointless to work because everyone was celebrating. In the morning our branch had a party. It was fun and us missionaries sang the national anthem. It was odd though because I was I think the only person standing with my hand over my heart during it. Never had that happen before. We had pancakes and talked with everyone. After that we got together as a district for a big ol lunch. We all chipped in and bought a bunch of stuff for burgers and snacks and drinks. You can't not have a burger on the Fourth of July. I was the grill master like always and basically did everything haha. I made some bomb BBQ burgers for everyone. They were super good and everyone loved them. We chilled for a bit and all went back to the church. We played risk together and I destroyed everyone. No one stood a chance. I'm an unmatched military commander I guess. We ate some food and played a lot of games. We played a bit of basketball and some more chair soccer. It was a super fun day. After that before we had to go home we watched some fireworks. They were super disappointing though... I'm used to Utah where we can see fireworks everywhere in the whole valley but there were only like two small shows that you could barely see and they weren't very good at all.


Wednesday was fun too. We had zone conference and everyone got to meet President Hewlett. He's a great guy and I love him. He's a sport lover and just the nicest guy I've ever met. We met him and his family, sister Hewlett is super funny. They have a 15 year old daughter that is staying here in Texas with them. They have older kids too. It was good to see Riches as well. We were able to catch up. We went to Taco Bell after with Elder Lesa and Johnson. I missed them (they were in the MTC with me) we have all grown to be great friends.

Thursday was good, but I don't really remember it. We ate with the Fongs and it was good as usual. Their kid Victor is so cool and we take him with us a lot to work. He's super funny always making jokes.

Friday was great. We had district meeting which was good, but what made the day great was that Elder Riches was on exchanges with our district leader. Because he is a zone leader now btw. I got to talk with him a bunch that day. After DM we all ate lunch together again. We were going to go grill burgers, or more correct I was going to grill burgers, but there was no propane at the apartment complex so we decided to go get burgers at Ricky's. It was amazing!! We had a good day, we found four new investigators. We ate dinner with Presidente Rubio and he got us pizza. Riches ate with us as well.

Saturday we were able to put a lady on date so that was great. I have a good feeling that she will be baptized for rizzle. Her date is on the 29 of this month. This would be amazing because it would be the first baptism in this area for over a year. People always talk about how bad this area is and it would make me feel a lot better if I were able to baptize here. She's super cool. Her name is Luna. Pray for her that she can be baptized!

Sunday was great! We had church and then went tracting. We had lunch with the Rodriguez family and it was so fun like usual. After we tracted a bit and had dinner with the Hernandez family. It was super good. We played la Segunda milla afterwords too.

This week was great and I hope y'all have a good one. Love ya

"Reunited with Riches!"

"We photo bomb the hermanas"

New Mission President

This week was pretty good. I got the journals and shoes on Thursday and so far so good. It went by real quick. How is Indiana? 

Monday was good we went bowling like usual. I'm pretty good at bowling I think. We ate pizza there and got ice cream. It was good. After that we went to the church and played basketball. That was fun. 

The rest of the days I can't really remember mostly just a blur. 

But Thursday night some crazy stuff happened. We ate with the Chavez family and that was good, but afterwards we headed towards the church to play basketball with the youth like we do every week. When we got there and got out this guy came up to us from inside the building. He was freaking out. He kept telling us that he needed a blessing and told us all about his gang life and about his time in jail. But what was bad was he had a staph infection. And I have had meningitis so I didn't want to go anywhere near him. And he was high on something. He followed us inside and was terrorizing the place. Luckily the English Elders came over and took care of him. One of the members were there with their kid too and he had meningitis when he was a baby and they were real worried. It was weird

Friday was normal had district meeting which was good. We had snacks afterwards. We were able to do service Friday. We helped a lady in the English ward move. It took six hours... it was long. President Drake left that night.

Saturday president Hewlett got here in Texas. We get to meet him on Wednesday. We helped another person move in as well. It was super hot that day. We had to go on splits with English too because we both had lots to do. 

Sunday was good. Church was fine as usual. Other than that we didn't do much.

Tomorrow we have a branch party. It should be fun. I'm doing good love y'all. Have a good week.

"sometime's you're just out and about and the hermanas spot you crossing the street!"

"The Drakes are leaving and we get a new president."

"This kid is so cool!"

"Back in Utah"

"This Pepsi is fire." 

"Boom"

Transfers

Hey guys!

Today is transfers. Saturday we found out if we were leaving or not and you guessed it! I'm staying in ol Baytown for another transfer....Six months here. That means you could send packages and stuff too. Would be happy to receive them. My pancakes are really good because I add special ingredients. I still hate normal pancakes though so no worries mom. 

My week was good it was the last week of the transfer so not much happened. Monday we bowled as usual. I didn't do very well this time for some reason. After we played some volleyball and chilled at the church.

The rest of the week wasn't exciting really. Elder Carter and I had lots of fun just nothing really nothing of note. We met some people that were cool, but all of their appointments fell through this week so we were not able to visit them again. We talked to this lady from Peru, but she's leaving to Peru for the rest of the summer.

We ate lots of Ramen this week because we are out of money. Carter got a package and it was full of fourth of July decorations so we put those up. We went on exchanges this week again. I was with Elder Nebeker in his area. It was really fun. We did service at a ladies house and she fed us breakfast. We then pulled weeds and fixed up her backyard in 95 degree weather. With the humidity it felt like about 105. It was really hot and right when we got outside we just poured sweat. It was crazy.

That's pretty much it. Hope yall have a good week!

Pancake Master

Hello!

I am doing pretty good here. My week was good it went smooth and flew by. We have been able to find people just fine but no one solid yet. It'll be cool getting a new president but Drake was a really good guy and really nice. I'll miss having him around.

Transfers are next week. I think I will leave. Or at least I hope I leave. I don't think I can stay another one out here. 

Last Monday we had some fun! We went bowling that morning. 

Tuesday I made lunch for the other Elders and dinner for the Hermanas. You should be proud for my growing culinary skills, I am the only one who cooks for everybody. I grill burgers, make bomb pancakes, other breakfast foods, etc. And I will say my pancakes are the best. Add all sorts of secret ingredients. We had a lesson with a lady named Nancy, but found out she was going on vacation till August so that was a bummer.

Wednesday we were on exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Martinez came with Elder Carter and I. He is awesome! I've known him my whole mission and he became ZL this transfer. It is also his last one so he goes home next week. We talked and talked about all sorts of stuff. Lost precious sleep haha. The day was good we ate with the other Elders and Elder Stucki at Johnny Carinos. It is kind of a ZL exchange tradition with them. We contacted a ton of people and it was great! We got slushes too because it was super hot that day!

Thursday we didn't do too much, but we were able to eat with the Hernandez family. They are so nice and so fun. We always talk to Hermano Hernandez about stars and pyramids. That night we went to
mutual and played basketball with the young men. That was a fun time!

Friday we did service in the morning and helped a lady in the English ward clean out her art classroom. We have helped her for a few weeks but that thing was a mess! She was moving into the room and the old teacher left everything so there was a ton of junk. You could hardly move in there! After that we went to sonic with the Hermanas. They bought us food because they had gift cards. We had district Training that night too. The ZLs came and taught us.

Saturday wasn't very exciting either. I made more pancakes, peanut butter and chocolate ones. They were super good. Good thing I make my pancakes with lots of crazy good ingredients because normal ones are nasty! We ate dinner at brother Manns house. He is in the English ward and really cool. We ate Chinese food. We haven't had that in forever so it was a good change.

Sunday we had church which was good as always. We ate lunch with the Rodriguez family as well. They are so awesome! Hermano Rodriguez always has me laughing! It is so funny when he talks in English too. She is a really good cook too so we were well fed.

My week was good and I am doing just fine! Elder Carter is great and we had an awesome week. Hope yall have a good one! Coming up on ten months so I'll be in the double digits. I'm excited to hit a year! And I will be twenty years old soon too so no more teenagers in the family. That's weird. Well Love yall!

Fruity Pebbles and Zone Conference

This week was really good. It was fast too.

Monday was good, we played lots of basketball and went bowling again. I won once more. Thinking of which I won overall today as well. We bought a lot of groceries and we got a lot of good stuff. Because of that we lived very comfortable this last week. I've gotten addicted to a new cereal... Poor Grandma Marie. She would be disappointed... They are fruity pebbles with Marshmallows! They are so tasty. Sugar bombs, but tasty.

Tuesday we had Zone Conference and I was able to see Elder Riches again! It was soooo awesome! Elder Riches is companions with Elder Johnson, he was in my MTC district! They are great. After Zone Conference we went out to eat with them. It was great to catch up. We were laughing non stop sharing stories of stuff we did together!

The rest of the week we did stuff but I cannot remember! It was a good week though. Sadly our only investigator, Carlos, goes to jail today... He was close to Baptism, but the cops got him first! Too bad.

I'm doing good thanks for everything! Love yall!

Grill Master

Hello!

Thank you for all the prayers and what not they sure do help! This week was actually super good! It went by way fast and we had lots of fun over here.

Monday was good, we bowled (I won naturally) and played some basketball. After pday we didn't do much because we got ready for exchanges that night. We went from Monday night to Tuesday night.


Tuesday was super good. I was with Elder Allen in his area. They cover all of Baytown so it was fun to see everything. We had a good morning and I grilled up some burgers for us and the Hermanas at a outdoor grill place in the English apartment complex. They were really good. It's funny, whenever we all make food together I cook. I guess you could say I'm a grill master. Watch out Dad I'm coming for you with the best burgers in town! After that we had a good day, we met a new investigator who was in a bad place and trying to find a church to help. She actually searched online for a few other local churches numbers and non of them worked. Then she stumbled upon a number that randomly popped up and dialed it. Turns out it was the churches number and she was able to talk to someone and have us get sent over. She was amazing! Just so prepared. The most prepared person I've taught ever. She knew everything was true and is already going to get baptized this next month. After that we went to an English recent converts house named Calvin and talked about stuff and had snow cones. Then we ate dinner with a young returned missionary and his wife. We went to exchange back afterwards and Elder Nebeker and my comp Elder Carter got locked inside our apartment haha. Nebeker climbed over our fence and ripped his pants haha. Of course I had to save the day and take apart the door and fix it like the handyman I am.

Wednesday was good as well. We did a lot of tracting and driving around because we had a ton of extra miles to use up. We ate with Hermana Moreno that day and it was pretty good. Other than that we didn't do much.

Thursday was great! We woke up early and got ready, and were at the church by 6:30 to play basketball. It was really fun and a good way to wake us up. After that we went home, showered, and got ready for Spanish class at 8:30. It was fun, Hermano Pomeroy teaches it. He is an older member in the English ward but he taught Spanish and has a PhD in it or something like that. He's super funny too and really really gospel knowledgeable. I'm in charge of the class because I've been in Baytown the longest now so that is cool! Thursday night we played basketball again and that was super fun. We went early to spend time with the youth of our branch. The young men always have nonmembers there so it's a good chance to meet them.


Friday was good. Elder Carter bought donuts from Krispy Kreme for the whole district. We had district Meeting and the zone leaders were there with Elder Asay. He's an AP. It's always fun to chat with him! I remember the first day I met him and he was so happy that we were like family haha. We have become good friends. We went to Buc-ees Friday as well. It's a Texas thing. It's a giant gas station but it's more like a supermarket. It has everything! So many trinkets and stuff. It also has like 100 pumps outside. We went for the bathrooms. They are so clean! For a germ-a-phobe like me it was great. We helped a member carry an elliptical into her house too Friday. She's so funny and nice. It's Hermana Valadez. I've gotten really close to her and her husband! They are so funny and always laugh at my jokes. And she is like a food conosuir! A member took us out to Ricky's burgers. Best burgers in town. I talk about it a lot because it is so good. I got a Fiesta burger with added avocado. It has sautéed onions, Chipotle, mayo, sautéed jalapeño, bacon, and other good stuff. I got it on this amazing jalapeño and cheese sourdough bun. It was so delicious. Ricky's is a little more expensive, the burger alone was 7 dollars, but it is so worth it. Favorite restaurant here!


Saturday was super good! We hunted for a new investigator all day and finally got one about mid day. We also got freezes from taco bell during happy hour. They are perfect because they are only a dollar and cool you down a lot. It was about 90 degrees outside and very humid. I was drenched in sweat. Saturday night was one of the best nights I had here in Baytown! We showed up to the Valadez family's house (all her kids are grown BTW. It's just her and her husband. But they are about forty something so not too old haha.) and they decided to take us out to eat! We went to this hole in the wall sushi restaurant called Wasabi Baytown. It was pretty good! We had these super good spicy tuna tempura nachos and these fish taco things. Also Kimchi fries and I had a surf in turf roll. It had shrimp and other stuff. Carter's roll was super good. It had salmon and avocado and some good stuff. Hermano Valadez got a dragon roll. It was shaped like a dragon and they had a super cube on fire at its mouth so it looked like it was breathing fire! It had eel avocado and salmon and all sorts of tasty stuff. But it took awhile to make. They lady came over and apologized for the wait and Hermano Valadez said, "That's alright, we know you are fishing for the fish back there." It was really funny we all busted out laughing. After the sushi restaurant we went next door to a Mexican ice cream shop. The ladies there were super cool and talked to us in English at first, then Hermana Valadez said "Oh they speak Spanish just fine. They need to practice." She speaks English by the way. So we ordered in Spanish and that was cool. I got bubblegum and some other flavor called "Rosa de amor." They were really good. It was such a fun night and we laughed almost the while time!


Sunday was just a normal Sunday. Church was good as usual. Afterwards was just a normal Sunday! Nothing too crazy. This week was good, and flew by super quick. Already halfway done with the transfer. Time flies! Rain should pick back up here this week. Only should be around the high 80s throughout the week. This last week was consistently in the 90s so really hot.

Hope y'all have a good week and everything is going good for y'all. Keep me updated on the house. Sounds exciting can't wait to get pictures when it is finished. Love y'all have a good one back home.

"Hey guys, we stopped in California for a minute. Be back in Texas soon! :)"

Rain, Rain Go Away

Hello from Texas!

I am doing alright! It is currently pouring rain! It has been raining pretty heavy all morning so far. It's getting crazy out here. This past week was okay. Nothing crazy or of note happened really. It was
quite cut and dry.

Monday we went bowling but then just sat at the church. Now that Elder Dial is gone I had no one to play basketball with so I mostly just sat there shooting hoops while everyone went on their iPads.

Tuesday we were on exchanges with the English elders. I was with Elder Nebeker in my area. It was fun, we are good friends. It was a normal day however, just trying to find people.

Wednesday we ate with some of my favorite members and that was really fun!

Thursday we went to hibachi and had some Chinese buffet. Knowing a buffet the food wasn't too good but it was fun. 

Friday I don't really remember what happened! I guess nothing of note!

Saturday was the same just nothing really!

Sunday we had church and stuff.. nothing exciting either!

As you can see this wasn't a very good or exciting week, but it was really really fast. One of the faster weeks I've had so I'm grateful for that!

Elder Carter is doing good. He's a good guy, he goes with the flow. He's from Morgan Utah.

Well other than that I don't know what to write. Oh yeah I cracked my ring so that was sad. I was washing my hands and flicked them and it slipped off hitting the tile. But yep. Have a good one! Tell my siblings a little something in the mail or a package or whatever would be really appreciated this transfer. Love y'all.

Jonny has been struggling in his current area and I think he would really appreciate some love from everyone. If you feel like sending him a letter in the mail, I think that would really lift his spirits! His current address is: 1700 Bob Smith Rd, Apartment 1111 Baytown TX 77521 Thanks!